422 players to go under the hammer in PKL 6 auction

The Pro Kabaddi Auction, which will take place in Mumbai on May 30 and 31, will see 422 players go under the hammer. The concept of “Final Bid Match” has also been introduced for the first time in the league, where in a franchise is eligible to match the final bid made by another franchise. This is applicable only to those players who were part of PKL 5.

The total purse amount for each franchise is Rs 4 Cr. The base prices have been set at Rs 20 lacs, Rs 12 lacs, Rs 8 lacs and Rs 5 lacs for Category A, Category B, Category C and Category D players respectively. The New Young Players, who were selected from the Future Kabaddi Heroes (FKH) programme, will have a fixed salary cap of Rs 6.6 lacs.

The squad size of each team can be anywhere between 18 and 25. It is mandatory to have at least two overseas players in your final outfit. We are likely to see bidding wars between franchises when the names of Iranians Fazel Atrachali and Abozar Mighani go on the board.

The Gujarat Fortunegiants’ fans would be curious to see how their team goes about its business as it let go the Iranian defenders, however, it has the opportunity to bring them back with the option of “Final Bid Match”. South Korean Jang Kun Lee, Bangladesh’s Ziaur Rahman, Iranian trio Hadi Oshtorak, Abolfazl Maghsodhloumahali and Farhad Rahimi Milaghardan are the other overseas options which teams could vie for during the auction.   

UP Yoddha, Jaipur Pink Panthers and U Mumba are in for a new beginning as all the three teams decided not to retain even a single player from the previous edition.

Having retained Ajay Thakur, Amit Hooda and C Arun ahead of PKL 6, the Tamil Thalaivas can purchase up to a maximum of 22 players (max squad size is 25). With Edachery Bhaskaran replacing Kasinathan Baskaran as head coach of the Sachin Tendulkar co-owned franchise, the expectations are high on him after the home side had a disastrous campaign in the last season.

As Thalaivas has retained three players, it can exercise two “Final Bid Match” options.  Elite Indian stars like Deepak Niwas Hooda, Manjeet Chhillar, Anup Kumar, Surender Nada and Rahul Chaudhari will also be up for grabs. Nitin Tomar, who was the highest-paid player in PKL 5, receiving a whopping Rs 93 lacs, is also another influential player who could make teams go bonkers for him.  As far as Tamil Nadu players are concerned, Jeeva Kumar, Prapanjan, Selvamani and Dharmaraj Cheralathan are some of the guys to watch out for.